Historian explains what binds Trump’s extremely rich and economically struggling supporters together

Like many who lean left, even many to the right of center, I find Donald Trump’s contempt for law, disrespect for people, derision of opponents, disdain for facts and truth, erratic and self-serving behavior, and violation of democratic principles of government, frightening. I worry about the future of the nation if he is reelected, and if climate change is as disruptive as predicted, of the world. I fully expect that if Trump loses a close race in 2020 he will declare the election “fake news” and refuse to recognize the result. I have no confidence that Republicans in the legislative and judicial branches would stand up for the Constitution and throw the bastard out.

Joseph Biden describes Trump as an aberration and believes he can work with responsible Republicans. Even Biden’s more progressive opponents in the Democratic Party Presidential nomination race, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, were proud to tout their Republican friends during the televised October debate. I doubt very much we will see an across-the-aisle Kumbaya moment. Donald Trump captured a Republican Party that has been moving in his autocratic and win-at-any-cost direction since the Reagan administration in the 1980s.

What I struggle with understanding is how Trump, who is so self-evidently incompetent, morally repulsive, and biased in favor of the rich, holds onto his support among the white working-class and religious voters who attend his rallies and cheer hysterically for their hero. Sometimes pro-rich Republican Party elected officials and the wealthy and corporate interests they represent do mildly challenge Trump’s erratic foreign, domestic, and economic policies, but they always seem to swallow good sense, self-interest, and personal pride, to stay in the Trump fold. Understanding Trump’s hold on his supporters is key to building a coalition and a platform that can defeat Trump and retake American government and society.

View the complete November 3 article by Alan Singer from Common Dreams on the AlterNet website here.